Dwarves + axes... why?

[Ferret]

They hate trees

They fear trees.

 

[Rockwolf66]

Ok from what I know about D&D( not much any more) and the more primative forms of warfare. I have a couple( ok a few) of thoughts.

1. Dwarves are big fans of Mail and Plate armor. this means that to break through it you have to use alot of kinetic energy. Axe's Warhammers( most RL examples that I have seen have a pick on one side and a shaped face on the other), and similer weapons are great against armor of that type.

2. Given that Dwarves are mostly Miners, Stoneworkers, and related craftsmen Axes or Hammers would be familiar tools to them.

3. The combination of Dagger and Hand Axe is quite lethal and given #2 possibly common.

4. Axe's are intimidateing to most people.

Combine the points and extrapolate them and you have the beginning of some theory's as to why Dwarves would use Axes.

 

[Desdichado]

I think there was a dozen or so that developed a phobia after the party's halfling rogue smuggled them out of a dungeon in floating barrels.

Yeah, well other than that incident, they seemed to be reasonably confident and competent boatmen. Other than Bombur and the surprise deer that knocked him in the sleepy river in Mirkwood, they all did OK there.

 

[kenobi65]

Other than Bombur and the surprise deer that knocked him in the sleepy river in Mirkwood

DM: "OK, the deer is heading for..." ::rolls dice:: "...Bombur. Give me a Balance check."
Player 1: "Shyeah, right. I've got a 6 Dex, and no ranks. That'll be a -2." ::rolls dice:: "And a 4 on the die...so that's a 2. Damn."
DM: "Alright, then. Bombur falls into the water. Give me a Fort save, Bombur."
Player 1: "A Fort save? Why???"
DM: "Turns out the water is poisonous...."
Player 1: ::rolls dice again:: "GAH! A natural 1!"
Player 2: "Bet you're sorry you took that 'Fat' flaw from Unearthed Arcana now, aren't you?"
Player 1: "Shut up! I hate this stupid character!"

 

[kenobi65]

4. Axe's are intimidateing to most people.

There was a series on the History Channel last year about various medieval weapons, hosted by a British expert on weaponry (can't remember his name at the moment). In the episode on the battleaxe, they illustrated that it was a great weapon for raw attack power, but had a couple of problems:

1) It's an unbalanced weapon, so, once you swing it, it takes time / effort to get it ready for another swing (something 3E D&D doesn't try to capture, but other games, such as GURPS, do)
2) It's a terrible weapon for parrying

In other words, it was perfect for the Viking berserkers, who (a) were going for killing their opponents with single blows, and (b) weren't terribly concerned about defense.

 

[Vanye]

There was a series on the History Channel last year about various medieval weapons, hosted by a British expert on weaponry (can't remember his name at the moment). In the episode on the battleaxe, they illustrated that it was a great weapon for raw attack power, but had a couple of problems:

Peter Woodward, and I believe the name of the show was CONQUEST.

Good show.

 

[kenobi65]

Peter Woodward, and I believe the name of the show was CONQUEST.

Yup, that's the one!

 

[Templetroll]

The novels about the Dwarves in Dragonlance were cool. They had the rationale that each tool had another side as a weapon. Dwarves had no time to go get weapons so they used what they had at hand. Thus, hammers, axes and picks were the most common.

I had a dwarf rogue fig that had two shortswords, a voluminous cloak and a wide-brimmed hat with a large feather. It looked great.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Ironically, the dwarves in Tolkien that we saw were always armed with either swords or mattocks, never axes.

I think it's the association that both dwarves and battle-axes with a Nordic influence.

Huh? Show me Gimli using a sword or mattock. Gimli, Tolkien's quintessential dwarf, carried a battle axe.

How about Snow White's seven dwarfs (hammers) or CS Lewis' dwarves (hammers and axes)?

Both of course show the nordic influence. Miners + craftsmen = hammers, picks, mattocks, & axes, right enough. If you dig, you not only need axes to cut timber to shore up your mine, but also to cut through roots in shallow tunnels.

 

[frankthedm]

For me it has always come down to the fact that Dwarves are craftsmen and warriors at the same time. Picks, Hammers, and Axes are all both weapons and tools.

Bingo.

My dwarves have thier own "monk style" weapons, with small nails, light picks, hammers and axes replacing shuriken, singhams, nunchucks and kamas.